Almost 90 per cent of stadiums hosting the 2026 World Cup could face potentially dangerous levels of heat, Queen’s University research has revealed.
With climate change and extreme heat becoming a growing problem for sport, some governing bodies for football recommend delaying or postponing games if a metric of heat stress termed “wet bulb globe temperatures” reaches above 28°C.
Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Dr Donal Mullan from Queen’s University has modelled this metric using 20 years of meteorological data to predict how hot the host stadiums are likely to get if it’s an average summer or a more extreme one.
Of the 16 stadiums, 14 could exceed the potentially dangerous 28°C level at least some of the time – with up to nine stadiums facing this heat at least half the time in a hot summer. Four stadiums could also reach a more dangerous 32°C level of extreme heat.
His research shows that temperatures are likely to be at their peak in the afternoon, when games are usually scheduled. Outside afternoon hours, levels of extreme heat reduce greatly at all host stadiums.
Dr Mullan comments: “Climate change and extreme heat are becoming bigger issues for all areas of our lives, and this includes sport.
“After analysing 20 years of data, our modelling shows that high temperatures are extremely likely, and these will have a major impact on players. We can see that afternoons are the peak time for higher temperatures, regardless of whether 2026 turns out to be an average or hot summer.
“To protect players, and spectators, organisers must rethink the timing of games. The best solution would be rescheduling kick-off times outside the hottest afternoon hours for the locations with highest temperatures, especially those without air conditioning. This is primarily Miami and Monterrey, but also Philadelphia, Kansas City, Boston and New York.”
The research findings have been published in The International Journal of Biometeorology.
The research was led by Dr Donal Mullan from the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast. He worked with a team of researchers from a range of universities across the UK and Canada.
